


I've Had the Time of my Life

by Taranticat



Category: Dirty Dancing (1987), It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Dirty Dancing AU, Gay Dennis Reynolds, Just a bit of fun really, M/M, Mac and Dennis, MacDennis - Freeform, Multi, Tender - Freeform, i really am loving this au so far, mature themes, tw abortion, very soft
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-01-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:00:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22259086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taranticat/pseuds/Taranticat
Summary: That was the summer of 1963. When everybody called me Den and it didn't occur to me to mind. That was before President Kennedy was shot, before the Beatles came, when I couldn't wait to become a veterinarian and I thought I'd never find a guy as great as myself.That was the summer we went to Paddy's Resort
Relationships: Mac McDonald/Dennis Reynolds
Comments: 8
Kudos: 9





	I've Had the Time of my Life

**Author's Note:**

> HEYYYYY SO THIS HAS BEEN LOOOOONG AWAITED AND I'VE BEEN PROCRASTINATING WRITING THIS FOR SO LONG BUT HERE IT IS! 
> 
> This is dedicated to my amazing friends on my Sunny group chat who I love very much and wouldn't have done this without them! I love you guys so much!

_“That was the summer of 1963. When everybody called me Den and it didn't occur to me to mind. That was before President Kennedy was shot, before the Beatles came, when I couldn't wait to become a veterinarian and I thought I'd never find a guy as great as myself._

_That was the summer we went to Paddy's Resort.”_

…

  
“Hi, everybody. This is your cousin Cricket. Whoa! Our summer romances are in full bloom, and everybody's in love! So, cousins, here's a great song from The Four Seasons.”

Mr Reynolds inched up the radio to the blasting sounds of ‘Big girls don’t cry’ and began to sing along in a toneless tune as he silently drove along the sun-scorched country road. The heat was unbearable, but the promise of fall was on the way and the Reynolds family had been assured that Paddy’s was the best place to go for a vacation this summer.

Dennis adjusted himself in the back of the stuffy Chevy, being very careful not to kick his sister Deandra who was already pissed because her lipstick had smeared mid-application when they hit a speed bump a few miles back. He secretly hoped this summer would be filled with exciting romance but the brochure for Paddy’s stated otherwise and sadly instead of secret rendezvous there would be tennis lessons and musical chairs.

“Den, I swear to God if your crap falls onto my side of the seat again I’m gonna punch a hole through your face.” 

“hey – hey lay off me! I wasn’t touching any of your shit Dee.” Retorted Dennis, leaning his head against the window and dreaming of the second he could leave the cramped car and be free to walk wherever he wanted without his sister squawking in his ear like an angry bird.

“Deandra, Den, can you please be quiet. All your squabbling back there is giving me a migraine.” Mrs Reynolds barked as she aggressively downed two aspirin.

“But it was Den-.”

“Enough, you heard your mother, zip it! Besides, look, we're almost there.”

Mr Reynold pointed at the freshly painted sign at the edge of the road, proudly displaying the name ‘Paddy’s Mountain House’. As the small Chevy drove along up the winding path the resort began to filter through the trees and Dennis could catch glimpse of the house. It was marvellous, the whole place was cast of red brick and white wood making it stick out from the dense forest surrounding it. A small winding path led up to the reception which was lined with lanterns that would undoubtedly light up the resort at night casting shimmering reflections onto the trees all around. As the trees thinned around them, Dennis could see the holiday lodges dotted about in the vicinity of the main house. Their white wood was almost radiant, and they stood there cheerily welcoming guests who had travelled far and wide to spend the summer here at Paddy’s. He could picture deeply immersing himself in the woods, swimming in the quiet parts of the lake where no one else went and even participating in the resorts ridiculous activities where he could maybe even meet a special some-.

Dennis was suddenly pulled from his thoughts violently as the whole car came to a jolting stop at the entrance causing both him and Deandra to be thrust several inches forward in the back seat. This irritated Deandra severely.

“Daddy, why’d you do that!? All of my stuffs gone everywhere!”

“I’m sorry Deandra darlin’ but I couldn’t drive any farther or I’d run over that group of old broads.”

Mr Reynolds chuckled lightly as he opened the front door and stepped out, stretching his old bones from the long drive. As the rest of the family stepped out of the car Dennis observed his surroundings, people were animatedly chatting as they made their way to the lake, sporting bathing suits and rubber dinghy’s, the front lawn was littered with families playing games and relaxing in the sun. Dennis found himself smiling lightly as he overheard one of the resort entertainers enthusiastically shouting through a megaphone the schedule for today.

“Ping-Pong in the west arcade, softball in the east diamond. All you Sandy Koufaxes, get out there! Complimentary dance lessons in the gazebo!” 

Sounded like the next few weeks were going to be interesting, Dennis thought to himself unenthusiastically. Suddenly Deandra gasped so loudly that one would think she had seen a murder. Unfortunately, all she had witnessed was a lobby boy carrying a vast number of shoeboxes for a girl of similar age to her. Deandra desperately grabbed her mothers’ blouse and remarked in an exasperated tone.

“Oh my god, look at that! Mommy, I should’ve brought the coral shoes. You said I was taking too much!”

“Well, you brought ten pairs with you already.”

“But the coral shoes matched that dress!”

Dee was already starting to have a mild tantrum when Mr Reynolds interjected in a chiding tone.

“Deandra, this isn’t a tragedy. A tragedy is thousands of people workin’ in sweatshops or police dogs used in Birmingham.”

“yeah Dee or monks burning themselves in protest!” remarked Dennis in mock passion as he leaned against the side of the Chevy. Oh, how he loved winding his sister up when she was being unreasonable.

“Why don’t you just butt out Den.” 

In the distance the resort entertainer could be heard shouting through the megaphone again, his voice slightly beginning to get on Dennis’ nerves despite being here only ten minutes.

“Okay, we got horseshoes on the south lawn in 15 minutes! We've got splish-splash the water class down by the lake. We have the still life art class. We got volleyball and croquet. And for you older folks, we got sacks!”

“Frank! Frank!” A merry voice called which belonged to non-other than William Ponderosa, the owner of Paddy’s resort. He strode gaily across the pebble dash drive and greeted his old friend with a warm handshake.

“William! It’s good to see you.” Replied Mr Reynolds, greeting his old friend and former patient with a strong handshake and a half-hug.

“Frank, after all these years I finally got you up on my mountain!”

“Yeah, so how’s the blood pressure, William?” 

Ignoring Mr Reynolds question, Mr Ponderosa turned brightly to Dee and Dennis and said.

“I want you two kids to know… if it were not for this man, I would be standing here dead.” Suddenly Mr Ponderosa looked over his shoulder and quickly snapped his fingers. “Charlie get the bags.”

“Right away sir.”

“I’ve got the best cabin saved for you and your beautiful wife and children Frank!” Mr Ponderosa proudly beamed as he motioned for Charlie to get the bags from the boot of the Reynolds family car.

Dennis slowly followed Charlie to the back of the car and helped him take out a few bags. _He’s not too bad._ Dennis thought to himself. Charlie had curly brown hair that lightly feathered his ears and a warm smile that seemed to make his whole face light up, especially his freckles that peppered his nose and cheeks. He also looked kinda jacked. Dennis was not complaining.

“Hey thanks a lot kid, you want a job here?” Charlie jokingly said as he began to load the suitcases onto a luggage cart. Once he and Dennis loaded up the trolley with the rest of the luggage Charlie turned and smiled before dragging the cart off to their lodge.

“See ya round!” 

Dennis watched as Charlie walked off before strolling back to the hood of the car where Mr Ponderosa was motioning animatedly.

“There’s a merengue class in the gazebo in the next few minutes. We got the greatest teacher. Used to be a Rockette.” 

Mrs Reynolds laughed lightly whilst placing a hand affectionately against her husband’s chest.

“William, it’s Frank’s first vacation in four years, take it easy on him.” Mr Ponderosa just smiled a toothy grin as he began to walk away.

“Yeah, well three weeks here and it’ll feel like a year. Ha-ha! Be seeing you!”

*** 

“One, two, three, four! Stomp those grapes and stomp some more! One, two, three, four! Listen to the music!”

Dennis stumbled about the Gazebo as the dance teacher (a young but plain girl whose name he couldn’t actually remember) shouted words of encouragement to all the dancers in the class. He saw Dee in the line in from of him moving in a way that screamed ‘I think I have talent, but I am actually the most god-awful dancer in the room’ and he had to turn away in sheer cringe. This, unfortunately, caused him to stand on the toes of a very severe looking middle-aged woman.

“s-sorry.”

All of a sudden, the dancing instructor began to move to the middle of the room, the look in her eyes full of passion and excitement. Dennis did not feel passionate and excited in the slightest way.

“Come on, men! Follow me into a round-robin! Ladies, the inner circle!”

She grabbed an unsuspecting man’s hand and started to encourage the other men to join onto the train of people. The women eagerly slinked into the middle to form a second circle so that both the men and women were dancing parallel to one another. Dennis was wedged between his father and an old man who was wearing socks and sandals and smelled vaguely of cat pee.

“Oh, come on ladies, God wouldn’t have given you maracas if he didn’t want you to SHAKE EM!”

The instructor shimmied her chest in time to music which cast a spell over the ladies in the middle. Dennis even though he saw his own mother’s dancing become more erratic and livelier. Dee, as usual, was going all out in the worst way possible.

“Okay, ladies! When I say stop, you’re gonna find the man of your dreams! NOW STOP!”

Dennis turned to face ‘the man of his dreams’ only to see an eighty-year-old woman in a neon pink visor who passionately grabbed his hands and started to dramatically sway in time to the music. There was nothing he could do except reluctantly dance and pray that the class would be over soon.

***

It was dusk now and the sky had turned a brilliant shade of blue like the deep ocean. The smoke rose from the cabins that were dotted around the resort and faded into the sky producing a smell that could only remind one of a late summer’s evening. Dennis shrugged on his cardigan walked out onto the veranda, the old boards bending slightly beneath him. He looked up at the main house and let out a deep sigh that ebbed out into the night when suddenly thought swam through his head. _Why not go and look around?_ Quickly walking back to the door Dennis shouted to his parents.

“Mom, dad. I’m going up to the main house to explore.”

As he made his way up to the house the lanterns illuminated the stone path beneath his feet and made his skin glow like warm honey against the dark green of the trees. Dennis decided that he’d let his feet decide where to go and he quickly found himself making his way around the back of the building near the kitchens and the resort canteen. The door to the veranda was slightly ajar and a pool of light streamed out from the dining room into the cool evening. As Dennis edged closer to the open door, making sure to not step on any squeaky wooden boards, he began to hear murmurs of conversation. He was flush to the door now and the murmurs had amplified to clear speech and all of a sudden, he recognised the voice at once; it was Mr Ponderosa. Dennis discreetly pulled the door curtain to the side to get a better look at what was going on. Mr ponderosa was standing in the middle of the dining room, one plump hand delicately placed on a nearby dining cart as he stood there lecturing ten or so waiters. They all looked young, perhaps a few years older than Dennis and they were all quite handsome in their uniforms. Dennis quirked an eyebrow in silent amusement as he edged further up to the glass ever so slightly more.

“Now boys, you waiters are all college guys and I went to Harvard and Yale to hire you. Why did I do that? Why?” Mr Ponderosa spoke as he looked around the room, the glow of the candles making his face appear gravely grim.

“I shouldn’t have to remind you that this is a family place. That means you keep your fingers out of the water, your hair out of the soup and show the goddamn daughters a good time!” He paused. “All of the daughters. Even the dogs.”

An audible moan swept around the room at this remark causing Mr Ponderosa to roll his eyes and purse his lips before continuing to chide the boys at their reluctance to entertain.

“Take em’ out the terrace! Show em’ the stars! Just show them a good time even if they look like hell.”

All of a sudden, the door to the restaurant loudly snapped open, catching Mr Ponderosa by surprise as his eyes bulged out of his head. Dennis had to stifle a laugh as he leaned against the door frame, being careful not to fall straight through and attract everyone’s attention as to why he was snooping around before the restaurant was officially opened to guests. Through the open door waltzed several people, all dressed in slinky black leather, their auras radiating danger and wildness. They were all so gorgeous, Dennis thought as he raked his eyes over each member of the group, transfixed on their cool personas. When he got to the man in the middle Dennis froze and his heart seemed to stop in time, suspending all bodily functions. His breathing hitched and the world slowed to a hellish crawl. He was the most handsome man Dennis had ever seen in his life. His tousled brown hair flowed from the top of his head like waves of the earth and hidden in the chestnut of his eyes Dennis saw a spark of fire causing the butterflies in his stomach to shake and stir against his ribcage. _Just when I was about to lose complete hope in this vacation._ Dennis was giddy.

Mr Ponderosa scowled as the group of rebels made their way over to him.

“Well, well, well if it isn’t the entertainment staff.” He sneered as he pointed a chubby finger at the handsome man and waggled it around in his face aggressively. “Listen wise-ass. You guys got your own rules here. Ya dance with the daughters and teach em’ the cha-cha and the mambo but that’s it. That’s where it ends. No funny business and keep your hands off!!”

Mr Ponderosa stormed off, his face beet red and a young man who Dennis overheard was called Schmitty began to chuckle lightly at the confrontation. He had a nice complexion but his smug aura repulsed Dennis almost entirely.

“So, can you keep that straight Mac? What you can and can’t lay your hands on?” he jeered.

Mac slowly walked up to the table Schmitty was laying and leaned ever so coolly against the wood, his fingers toying with the cloth napkins.

“You just put your pickle on everybody’s plate and leave the hard stuff to me college boy.” He smirked and dropped one of the hand-folded napkins on the floor before swivelling away and out of the room.

Dennis followed his exit with hungry eyes as he devoured every last image of Mac before he left. For a good while after, Dennis just stood there in a dazed state, his head in the clouds and his feet on the wooden veranda. Snapping out of it he realised that they would be having dinner soon meaning that his parents would be wondering where the hell he’d been for the past forty-five minutes. Running back to the cabin Dennis crossed along the same stony path and a thought crossed his mind. _I hope I get to see him again._


End file.
